Beatrice and Dante

Drawing on paper; cm 35,5 x 49,5 (the drawing) cm 45 x 58 (the - contemporary? - white sheet of paper); pencil, white lead and watercolor; pasted on a white sheet of paper (probably contemporary); with Tanto Gentile e Tanto Onesta Pare sonnet pasted on the passe-partout (previously hand written on the white sheet and later cut off); in good condition.

Dante is looking at Beatrice, who is pretending not to see him, denying him any form of greeting, and behind her two women, possibly her servants, are talking, peeking at the man. The artist here is probably depicting a scene inspired by chapter X of Dante's work La Vita Nova (The New Life), where he states that Beatrice stopped greeting him whenever he met her, leading him to despair ("la qual fu distruggitrice di tutt'i vizi e reina de le vertudi, passando per alcuna parte, mi negò lo suo dolcissimo salutare nel quale stava tutta la mia beatitudine"). This hypothesis is supported by the sonnet that the artist wrote on the lower write margin of the white sheet on which the drawing is pasted on (later cut off and glued to the passe-partout), Tanto Gentile e Tanto Onesta Pare, belonging to the second part of the Vita Nova, in which the Poet describes his life after loosing Beatrice's beatification, that in his idea came with greeting by the beloved woman.

The two characters are standing along a river, possibly river Arno, that crosses Florence, as on the background we can see Palazzo Vecchio, one of the most important buildings in Florence, and some hills.

Other artists have took inspiration by this passage of the Vita Nova, such as Henry Holiday, with his painting Dante and Beatrice, dated 1883 and located in Liverpool at the Walker Art Gallery.

*Si ringrazia il prof. Carlo Sisi per l'attribuzione.

Bibliography: Disegni di Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871), Roma 1982; M. Manfrini Orlandi - A. Scarlini (a cura di), Tommaso Minardi: disegni, taccuini, lettere nelle collezioni pubbliche di Forlì e Faenza, Bologna 1982.